A STEP FORWARD TOWARDS A BETTER CAREER :- By Dr. S. V. Patil

India is country of  over  1.3 billion people, second largest with highest demographic advantage. India is third largest economy in the world after China and USA and an important player in G20.  It is a country of diversity in many respects like language, life style, economy, culture… Now it is celebrating ‘25 years of liberalization’ during which GDP and per capita income has grown in many folds. About 30 million students have been enrolled to higher education system.

Recently I was talking to faculty members of a PU College; there I raised questions by showing pictures of an anchored boat and boat without compass. The message here is a boat is safe when anchored but not desirable and a boat is motion but directionless in absence of compass.  The boat is meant for sailing but captain of the boat should have the compass to guide the boat towards expected destination. Similarly every individual should be progressive. Let our dreams (vision) set the direction and passion drive to the destination.  Passion towards realizing the dreams must be persistent. This is applicable to students at all level and disciplines and more specific to post graduation. We are witnessing the hardship taken by the candidates appearing for CAT, GATE and the like to get into a particular institute and specializations. The similar heat must be there with aspirants of PG programs at different levels. Passion must drive the students to a particular program otherwise a “study without desire spoils the memory, and it retains nothing that it takes in.” (Leonardo da Vinci). Similarly a balloon can go up in any given environment only when it filled with gas to certain level of pressure otherwise it will not take off (excess pressure burst the balloon). Similarly whatever may be environment, the individual’s competency and capability will make her/him to fly high in career. This is the basic of science and hard fact of life.

Now it is time of admission to PG programs. Master of Business Administration (MBA) is one among the most sought program. It is an interdisciplinary program catering to all sectors (agriculture, manufacturing and service) and levels, entrepreneurship and NGOs as well.  Every entity needs to be managed efficiently and effectively. It requires the human resource equipped with skills to manage them. The profession like engineering, paramedical, agriculture etc. are sector specific, where as management is for all sectors. If there is slowdown in one sector, there will be boom in other.  The demand for the people with management skills and knowledge is always there and is consistent.  Also the scope for career advancement is very high due to the knowledge across the functionalities like HR, Marketing, Finance and Operations.  At the same time it is not bed of roses, has intrinsic challenges to succeed. David M. Burns says “Aim for success, not perfection. Never give up your right to be wrong, because then you will lose the ability to learn new things and move forward with your life. Remember that fear always lurks behind perfectionism”. So pursuit for success is critical and continuous.

At this juncture, India is considered as the fastest growing in slowing (global) economy. The new initiatives of government of India like focus on Agriculture, Make in India, Digital India etc.  and good monsoon are the good signs of development. Further youths are orienting towards entrepreneurship hence start up boom.  

The IT companies see a big jump in campus offers acceptance as jobs shrink with each passing year. Banks are also aggressively recruiting.  On the contrary, downsizing, right sizing and delayed joining are happening in many places. . ET (ET June 10, 2016) reports that India Inc. faces a dearth of talent at the middle management level across sectors and locations that could derail the entire country's growth prospects, a survey of 350 CXOs and business heads in Mumbai, Bengaluru and Delhi has revealed.  If one door of opportunity closes, other definitely opens, even can create a new door through start ups. In this scenario India is facing challenges such as skill gaps, retention of high potential employees, talent development, communication, collaboration, leading teams and execution skills. Innovation and strategic thinking is the most important skill gap to be addressed nationally ((ET, Jun 10, 2016). On one side demand for people persists and on the other side capacity lacks, it implies that capable ones always have immense opportunities. Task in front of MBA aspirants is to build capacity in terms Attitude, Skills and Knowledge to combat with the said challenges. The fundamentals to capacity building are: Hard work, Discipline, Communication, Team work and Leadership. These in turn develop right Attitude, Skills and Knowledge to sustain and grow in career (shown in Figure).

The aspiring students should die hard to imbibe the bottom layer attributes. To develop these attributes, others can only guide or assist but individual has to make deliberate attempt and convert attributes as character. This will result into middle level which is required to build career.  The middle level includes Attitude, Skills and Knowledge, can automatically build the top level.  There is no short cut for top level.  Hence get, set ready for first level.

MBA is a program which has the scope for creating the platform for middle level. Students who are joining B-Schools should prepare their heart and soul to fit in middle level. They must choose B-School which is most conducive and striving to help to students to attain middle level. The faculty members, Infrastructure, library and laboratory facilities are the facilitators for the students attainment. The program structure and pedagogy must act like a compass of a boat. Students must come out of conventional teaching learning process. “Spoon feeding in the long run teaches us nothing but the shape of the spoon.”(E.M. Forster). Self study and experiential learning are the need of the hour.

The students should assess contributing factors for middle level and decide the appropriate school for next two years their journey to attain top level.  The most common question from the enquiries is how is placement? It is difficult to answer this question because: i. Economy ii. Rapport of the school and iii. Students’ competency. Alumni and faculty members are the ambassadors of the school. Faculty members’ credentials and reputation in academia, industry and society are feathers to the rapport of the school.    Since students are the largest stakeholders in B-schools, their commitment to bottom level will be one solution to all challenges and issues. To realize your dream, “A STEP FORWARD TOWARDS A BETTER CAREER” through an MBA from reputed B-School.